vetmari wrote:Here's helpful info on the common problems for the 9PFL3403D (and apparently the others) from a user review at Cnet

You've got to be kidding me. Who in their right mind would buy something that needs this kind of surgery to even turn on.

720p doesn't matter as a TV for high def, for computing though it's abysmal.

bet the phillips sets go faster. that puppy is cuter.

mishy wrote:the first sucker changed, i swear. anyone else notice?

Yeah, I did see that. I was never paid much attention but I was about 19 seconds and shocked there were more ahead of me. I did a bit of research so the entire process took over 5 minutes and it was 9 before I saw the change.

I suppose everyone has had different experiences with Philips TVs. I have purchased 4 Philips LCDS (47, 2x42, and one of these 19) and not had a single problem with the sets themselves. The 19 inch I bought from woot in October arrived with a broken stand, but after contacting woot-Philips-woot, I had a new stand in the mail within 2 weeks.

I also have purchased two Philips DVD players from woot and they are fine too, as well as other small products.

I'm sorry others have had problems with Philips and these TVs in particular, but I am pleased with their products and would buy again - from woot or anyone.

19"? Bigger is better.

Buyer Beware.

I purchased two of these at $149 in Oct. from Woot. They have BOTH gone out. Philips customer service is friendly- but totally unwilling to offer credit for another model or refund. Just exchange for an identical model. If you're looking for a reliable TV, this is not it.

When I see the name Philips, I run.

rc529 wrote:You guys. Seriously. Get with the HD trend, and know the facts. "720" and "1080" are the widths of the resolution in pixels. So, YES, there IS a difference between the two. Mathematically, 1080p is [more than] TWICE the resolution of 720p.

720p = 1280x720 (in pixels)
1080i or 1080p = 1920x1080 (in pixels)

1280 x 720 = 921, 600 pixels (~1MP)
1920 x 1080 = 2,073,600 pixels (~2MP)

2,073,600 / 921, 600 = 2.25

So, 1080p contains 2 and a quarter times the resolution of a 720p screen.

I've upgraded laptops this year, and I went from a 1280x768 (better than 720p) to my current 1920x1080 (1080p) resolution screen, and the difference is INCREDIBLE. (well, technically, two and a quarter times better.)

P.S. the "p" stands for progressive and the "i" stands for interlaced. Progressive is better. Trust me, it just is.

As an avid computer user, I will agree that you can see the difference when using a screen as a monitor. I have a 1080p screen next to a 1050x768 screen, and the desktop real estate is much better with a higher resolution. Also, computer output is pretty slow-moving, and you typically read from it. Crisper detail is important.

However, I have a 42 inch 1080p TV also, and sitting at ~8 feet away I usually can't tell the difference between 1080p and 720p video feeds. Video has lots of motion, blur, pixelation, and can be encoded well or encoded poorly. Compare 720p HD video from your cable company to a 720p Blu-ray disc to prove the last point. Progressive vs. Interlaced is also of marginal importance at this size.

Basically at 19", as a monitor it will work fine, but 1080 would be visibly better. As a TV, you'll never notice.

For the person wondering about watching SD video...every HDTV I've seen will scale up a lower resolution video source. The small screen size here will hide most problems with this.

gorefiendus wrote:As the person who photographed the Golden Lab puppy , I'll have to disagree with you about whose puppy is cuter.

Also, Our Movie Genre, Imagine my surprise when i opened Woot! and i see a picture that I've taken. Thanks Woot!

Did they pay you for the picture? Did you give them permission to use it?

JasonFromMN wrote:Sounds like the Philips 450D (last one in list) likes to hum while the TV is turned off. See reviews from target here. 199.99 at Target by the way.

Apparently (per post on Amazon) there is a firmware upgrade which fixes it.

I actually just got a refurbed 19" Sharp (720p) from Newegg and put it in my garage in my emerging "man cave" ... it looks perfect sitting on top of the kegerator, hooked up to cable TV and my old Xbox running XBMC. Just ordered a cheap wallmount on Ebay, so it'll look even better in a few days.

There are certain applications where you don't want a super big TV, and I've found mine. 19" is perfect!

the quality of 720P isnt too my liking, but it looks like a good little monitor for possibly the kitchen or something like that.

Dont fool yourself that you can't tell the difference between 720p and 1080p at that size.

I can tell difference between 2048x1536 and 1600x1200 on my CRT(i love my CRT's cause they still have better image quality than LCDs)

NightGhost wrote:Planning to mount one of these in a corner, and not sure how big the bracket must be? The bracket must extend more than half the width of the TV.

What, no geometric proof... on Woot! no less? I tell you kids these days... just got no urge to demonstrate their mathematical prowess to their fellow geeks.

Okay, let's use the following variables:

• monitor - monitor width
  
• wall - wall width from the corner to edge of monitor
  
• bracket - bracket length
  

• wall^2 + wall^2 = monitor^2
  

• 2 x ( wall^2 ) = monitor^2
  
• wall^2 = 1/2 x ( monitor^2 )
  

• bracket^2 + ( 1/2 monitor )^2 = wall^2
  
• bracket^2 + 1/4 x ( monitor^2 ) = wall^2
  

• bracket^2 + 1/4 x (monitor^2) = 1/2 x (monitor^2)
  

• bracket^2 = 1/4 x (monitor^2)
  
• bracket = 1/2 x monitor
  

NightGhost wrote:I'm not sure if anyone has already mentioned this, but Magnavox is made by Philips.

Actually, Philips has abandoned its own name; it has sold out to Funai and they have the manufacturing and marketing rights under that name in the US.
Additionally, Magnavox has belonged to Funai for years.
Based on my experience in servicing some consumer goods;
FUNAI is a junk builder (!) and I would never willingly buy a product made by them.

Other brand names owned by Funai:

Symphonic, Sylvania, Emerson, Aventura, Durabrand, ESA, INSIGNIA, Philips and Misakai

They make a large percentage of 'house' brands, some of the names I'm sure will be recognized.

Jazzyluv2 wrote:the Dont fool yourself that you can't tell the difference between 720p and 1080p at that size.

For a computer monitor or something where your viewing distance is likely 24" or so away, sure. But at 60" viewing distance, I doubt you can tell the difference between a 720p and 1080p TV of 19" size.

msgyrd wrote:As an avid computer user, I will agree that you can see the difference when using a screen as a monitor. I have a 1080p screen next to a 1050x768 screen, and the desktop real estate is much better with a higher resolution. Also, computer output is pretty slow-moving, and you typically read from it. Crisper detail is important.

However, I have a 42 inch 1080p TV also, and sitting at ~8 feet away I usually can't tell the difference between 1080p and 720p video feeds. Video has lots of motion, blur, pixelation, and can be encoded well or encoded poorly. Compare 720p HD video from your cable company to a 720p Blu-ray disc to prove the last point. Progressive vs. Interlaced is also of marginal importance at this size.

Basically at 19", as a monitor it will work fine, but 1080 would be visibly better. As a TV, you'll never notice.

For the person wondering about watching SD video...every HDTV I've seen will scale up a lower resolution video source. The small screen size here will hide most problems with this.

Just to add to this the quality of the picture quality is also highly dependent on the quality of the source, and very few video source can truly utilize a 1080 TV full potential even if you could tell the difference. You may see a difference in best buy, frys, or Walmart between 720 and 1080. This however is usually a result of active color manipulation on the floor models of cheaper tv's in order to hype and sell there more expensive counter parts.

Awwwww...look at the puppies!
Hello puppies!

could you mount one of these in a bathroom (with shower)? Are there special considerations for mounting a tv in a bathroom w/shower? With the Olympics coming, I'd love to create a seamless room-to-room viewing environment, and the bathroom is sorely lacking.

parrotice wrote:could you mount one of these in a bathroom (with shower)? Are there special considerations for mounting a tv in a bathroom w/shower? With the Olympics coming, I'd love to create a seamless room-to-room viewing environment, and the bathroom is sorely lacking.

I'm gonna guess that TV's are not moisture or humidity friendly... My daughter used to take her iPod into the bathroom with her when she showered (with a dock/speakers).. Both died due to the moisture.. Can't you take a shower for 5 minutes, and catch the recap on the evening news?

I also had trouble with this tv. Had to plug/unplug with each use. Philips replaced it with another "refurbished" tv that ended up having the same problem. They said I would receive a new one but ended up sending me another refurbished that seems to work but the speakers a on the underside so the sound is not good.
Don't buy this tv!

TerminalVelocity wrote:Buyer Beware.

I purchased two of these at $149 in Oct. from Woot. They have BOTH gone out. Philips customer service is friendly- but totally unwilling to offer credit for another model or refund. Just exchange for an identical model. If you're looking for a reliable TV, this is not it.

------------------------------------------------
I was about to pull the trigger on this but I'm seeing way to much of these kinda comments. And then when you go over to Amazon there are a whole slew of re-rating where people drop it to a one after it dies starting at 12 months on.
http://www.amazon.com/Magnavox-19MF337B-19-Inch-LCD-HDTV/dp/B000OR3QSM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1261634805&sr=8-1

While you are in there, install a Flux Capacitor, and you can get free cable over the air...

"All of this can be mitigated by removing the shield can (shhh, don't tell the FCC!) and installing a small 12VDC fan to the heatsink. I used self-drilling screws, taking care to remove all aluminum bits with a few blasts of compressed air. #6 screws fit perfectly between the fins on the heatsink. 12V is available on the main board (it is actually labeled on the power supply). Note that the 12V drops to 11.4V when the set is turned "off", so the fan runs continuously. If you buy a quiet ball bearing type you will likely never hear it running. If it's still too loud, install a 10 ohm 2W resistor inline with the positive lead of the fan. It will run more slowly, but still move adequate air. Cover the resistor in heat shrink tubing (and shrink it) to avoid shorts to the mainboard.
"

I've gone through 2 of these TV's Each time they lasted about a week. Apparently, there is an overheating issue with the processing chip. I am regretting I purchased this off of woot.

Philip's customer service was ok though and sent me a new "refurb" w/ free shipping.

rbenjami wrote:Do any of these have an alarm timer? That is, a clock setting where you can set the TV to turn on at a certain time each morning? I have an old Sony that I use now as an alarm clock and it seems this feature doesn't exist on may new sets. I use the sleep timer at night to fall asleep and the "on timer" to turn it on in the morning to wake me up.

Just buy a cheap lamp timer from Lowes and plug the TV into that.
Cost you all of $7.

yeawuteva wrote:does it matter it's only 720p at this size?

No. It really doesn't make a difference under 37 inches. Besides, HD cable still only broadcasts in 720p so you're only dealing with a distinction on Blu Ray and like I said, under certain inches, it won't matter anyway.

I bought one on Woot several months back....the Phillips model.

TROUBLE TROUBLE TROUBLE TROUBLE

I say TROUBLE four times in a row because that is how many times I have called customer service and they have had to send me a replacement. I am waiting on the 4th replacement now. Yes, it often does not want to turn on, sometimes right out of the box from Phillips.

BEWARE

Did this model have problems like the what I've heard described here? (19PFL3504D/F7B)

I purchased the Philips 19PFL3403D/27B through Sellout.Woot on November 10th. It worked well for a few days and then wouldn't turn on. After some troubleshooting, I tried using a spare power cable that I had from a different device and it worked for another day. After contacting Woot customer service (via email only) I was referred to the manufacturer. Because theses items are refurbished, Philips will need a copy of your Woot order to adjust the warranty start date to YOUR purchase date (this takes about a week). I was contacted last week by Philips and told a replacement was on the way and that it should ship to me within 21 business days (ok..call it what it is.. a MONTH). Philips covers the cost to return the defective item.

After reading many of the other posts on this thread it appears the power/plug issue is a recurring issue.

Now, the good... When the item DID work the picture was very good. Nice color tones, contrast and brightness. IF you happen to get one that doesn't have power issues I believe you will find value for your purchase.

Hope this is helpful!

NightGhost wrote:I'd put one on my yacht, but it's only 5 inches stem to stern.

Is that what the kids are calling it these days?

some1else wrote:What, no geometric proof... on Woot! no less? I tell you kids these days... just got no urge to demonstrate their mathematical prowess to their fellow geeks.


Boom! Bracket width should be half your monitor width... so, like, what NightGhost said.

One monitor width across the corner, and 1/2 from the center back into the corner. To check it's obvious to extend the 1/2 diagonal another 1/2 out from the center, then it's clearly 1 monitor width on both diagonals of a square so of course the 1/2 reaches to the corner.

There's almost never a need for calculation when the parts you're checking are as easy as 1/2 vs 1.

Sarisin wrote:I suppose everyone has had different experiences with Philips TVs. I have purchased 4 Philips LCDS (47, 2x42, and one of these 19) and not had a single problem with the sets themselves.

I'm sorry others have had problems with Philips and these TVs in particular, but I am pleased with their products and would buy again - from woot or anyone.

If you grab a live wire a few times and happen to live, does that mean it's a good idea to keep grabbing live wires? Especially when you know others tend to die from grabbing live wires? Especially more when the next particular live wire is labelled 'HOT' and has killed almost everyone who ever touched it?

Yes you might even get lucky again. But it'd be foolish to bet on it and even less smart to pay money for it.

And you've only had this a few months, and likely aren't bothering to think of other factors. Do you only use it 30 minutes at a time? Do you live in a cold state, have it in a cold room, etc? Get back to everyone when it fails, bet it will be sooner rather than later, next summer will be here fast with some higher temps to stress it.

hopefully woot makes up for this fail item with a Christmas Boggy Old Creature like last year!

anybody heard any whiffs of whether or not that'll happen again this year?

I bought one today, the last model listed in the list. I wanted the widescreen profile and HDMI inputs, even though I don't have anything with HDMI yet.

Since some members here have had trouble with refurbished 19" LCD sets from Philips, I bought the Square Trade warranty for 2 years, and using the coupon code SECRETSANTA got the price knocked down the cost to the price of a one year warranty. For some reason the code WARRANTYSANTA didn't knock the price down as much, even though it is supposed to give a slightly higher discount, so I used the other one.

I've never had to actually use a Square Trade warranty before, so I hope it's easy enough to use if I need it.

I bought this model and have had nothing but trouble. It's worthless as a TV. Always had to unplug and plug it back in to get it to work. Called Phillips and they were no help. Am now using it as a monitor for my desktop. Not worth the money or trouble. In the future I will avoid all Phillips products.

rc529 wrote:You guys. Seriously. Get with the HD trend, and know the facts. "720" and "1080" are the widths of the resolution in pixels. So, YES, there IS a difference between the two. Mathematically, 1080p is [more than] TWICE the resolution of 720p.

Nobody said otherwise. What the OP did post was the frequently-asserted opinion that the human eye (and/or brain) can't discern the difference between 720p and higher resolutions on a smaller set, with 32" being given as the rough dividing line for the definition of "smaller" set. You apparently read this to be saying that there is no physical/objective difference in resolution between physically/objectively different resolutions, which is not what was written.

rc529 wrote:I've upgraded laptops this year, and I went from a 1280x768 (better than 720p) to my current 1920x1080 (1080p) resolution screen, and the difference is INCREDIBLE. (well, technically, two and a quarter times better.)

Now you are expressing an opinion which differs from the OP's, which is great -- and in fact, I am particularly glad to read it, because I have never believed the 32"/720p threshold claim, but I don't have the necessary similar-enough-and-simultaneously-different-enough equipment with which to make my own comparison.

rc529 wrote:P.S. the "p" stands for progressive and the "i" stands for interlaced. Progressive is better. Trust me, it just is.

Ah, trust -- there's so little of it about any more. And on the internet, that's a good thing. To add a bit more detail to your differentiation of Interlaced vs. Progressive:

Interlaced means that every other horizontal scan line of the picture is refreshed during a single refresh cycle, so that it takes two refresh cycles to repaint the entire screen.

Non-interlaced, or Progressive as it was rebranded by the TV industry when incorporating this then-years-old computer monitor technology into the sets of the day (so that it sounded like something new when it was not), means that every scan line is refreshed during a single refresh cycle, resulting in a picture which is updated twice as often.

Using the old TV standard of a 60Hz refresh rate, this means that a standard, interlaced display would have an effective refresh rate of 30Hz, while a non-interlaced display would refresh at 60Hz. (Or do you prefer units of fps?) This increase from 30 to 60 frames per second is perceived by the human eye/brain as a smoother, less flickery image, and as less susceptible to jitter. I also find that interlaced TVs are easier to fall asleep in front of, which is why I would not buy one of these units (even if they did not appear to be the utter chunks of junk that all reviews paint them to be) for the bedroom.

NightGhost wrote:Planning to mount one of these in a corner, and not sure how big the bracket must be? The bracket must extend more than half the width of the TV.

Actually, assuming

a) a 90º corner and
b) the bracket itself mounts in the apex of the corner,

then that would be 0.707 times the width of the TV, or (root 2) / 2. (Curse the lack of a radical symbol in the extended ascii character set!)

If, however, you meant to use a regular old perpendicular bracket that rotates up to at least 45º, then your original citation of half the width is right. (And since it would be presumptuous to assume that you'd find the necessary wall studs in any given room corner, you probably did mean the latter, now that I think of it.

Regardless, I guess what you need to do is read the product descriptions; particularly the parts where it says things like "Set dimensions in inch (W x H x D): 18.33×14.43×2.88 inch."

EDIT: Now I realize that NightGhost was offering advice to someone else who might want to do this, whereas I had originally read this as a question, not a statement.

exprophecy wrote:Question:
Which model is the newest one? Newest as in, the latest released one.

The newest one is the Philips 19PFL3504D/F7B. It has a 1366x768 screen (true 16:9 ratio, matching HDTV signals). The others have 1440x900 screens (16:10 ratio, the common widescreen computer resolution now used less often). The newer panel may have better black-level and off-angle color performance.

Note that all of these panels have a resolution in between actual 720p and 1080i/p. When using a computer, you would want to set it to the exact resolutions of the panels as listed above. The computer would scale any video content to match the panel, and computers often do a better job than low-cost TVs will. If you connect an HD tuner or Blu-ray player to any of these sets, the TV itself will do the scaling.

Same as

http://sellout.woot.com/Forums/ViewPost.aspx?
PostID=3565330

but $10 cheeper

I wouldn't take a Phillips product if it was given to me. They are junk.